Contemporary musical life is broadly divided into clear segments: there are performers, composers, musicologists and organizers. These tasks are usually in the hands of specialized people. The most common combination is either performer and musicologist - the scientific that that term implies usually has to be taken with a grain of salt - or, to an increasingly lesser extent, composer and performer.
A rare exception to this rule is Robin Holloway (1943), a British composer who is also a widely respected musicologist. Holloway's experience as a composer is clearly reflected in his publications, in which he examines the music of his famous predecessors in a personal, but no less erudite way. As a composer, Holloway is' s fame is still largely limited to the British Isles. This CD by two College Choirs from Cambridge, where Holloway has worked as a teacher since 1975, enables a closer acquaintance with Holloway the composer. It will be opened with the Missa Caiensis op.93, written in 1993 and revised in 2001. When listened to, it immediately becomes clear that Holloway has seamlessly joined the very moderately modern tradition of British church music. The harmonies are unmistakably tonally oriented, but at the same time clearly influenced by developments in twentieth-century music. Somewhat freer in style is Woefully arrayed for choir and organ, op.89a, a setting of an originally anonymous text in which the suffering of Christ is used as an example of the human condition. In addition, two organ works fill the CD. The most extensive is the seven-part Fantasy op.65 from 1986, in which old forms such as aria, chorale and toccata are extensively used to conclude with a somewhat noisy 'sortie'. There is also a Wedding March from 1999. Holloway's church and organ music is British through and through and will undoubtedly find appreciation among fans of the genre. (JvG)more
